Heirs of the Wind and Earth
by Vivi-Chan
Summary: Set during Suikoden II. It's mostly a study of Luc, the wind mage and his relationship to Sasarai, a Priest-General of Harmonia


This is actually an older fanfiction that I'm in the process of rewriting.  
I've always been fascinated with Luc (since Suikoden I) and then with the  
addition of Sasarai (Suikoden II) I realized there was alot of hidden  
character dynamics for my favorite (mysterious) wind mage.  
  
This is a Suikoden II fanfic with hints of Suikoden III in it and an unholy   
amount of speculation. :) I hope people enjoy.  
  
- Vivi-chan  
  
Disclaimer: The characters are all owned by Konami.  
  
----,---'--{@ * * @}--,---'----  
  
Heirs of the Wind and Earth - Part 1  
Fanfiction by Vivi-chan  
  
  
Leknaat stared up towards the heavens, as she had done so many times before.  
Only a faint breeze disturbed the serenity of the night. It was a perfect  
night, as the ceremony dictated, the skies were without clouds, the night a  
velvet blue-black shimmering with the vast field of stars.  
  
She stilled her thoughts and focused her entirety upon those stars. This  
ritual required no elaborate ceremony, simply... her undivided attention. This  
duty was no longer hers, it had been passed to Hellion, yet she still  
performed this ceremony without fail every year.  
  
"The stars far away... The stars shining brightly...." The first words left  
her mouth and already, she could feel the air of unease gather about her, the  
weary sense of standing teetering on the verge of change. Destiny seemed to  
wrap its shackles around her slender robed form. "Stars that keep their  
motives eternally hidden from the world..... Reveal unto me, the future of  
this world."  
  
The vista that surrounded her was no longer that of the Arlus Plain... nor  
were the majestic peaks that surrounded Dana Pass within sight. Indeed she was  
not even standing on the Magician's Tower... Yet, once again, like so many  
years ago, the lurid red light of the Tenkai star became ever more prominent  
in her vision.  
  
"Tenkai star..." The name escaped from her lips, her attention affixed to that  
star. "Could it be?" As if in response to her question, another star seemed to  
glow brighter. One by one, the 108 stars began to shine, painting the night  
skies with their heavenly glow.  
  
Leknaat nodded slightly, "I see.... the stars move once again...." Like the  
countless scryings of years past, the stars had revealed themselves to her  
once more. Quietly she watched, mesmerised, as the threads of destiny wove out  
their will.  
  
The night waxed on and the stars began to wink out, one by one... slowly until  
only the Tenkai star remained; a fiery beacon all alone in the night. Leknaat  
might well have stayed there, remembering the people that had been chosen by  
the star... chosen to restore the balance to the world... or if they failed,  
plunge the lands into darkness.  
  
Genkaku... Tir McDohl.... The names and faces themselves were too numerous to  
count, the memories of each person seared within her mind. She clasped her  
hands to her bosom, mumuring to herself, "How cruel the fates are...."  
  
"Cruel?" A voice cut through the darkness like a knife. "How so?"   
  
Leknaat turned to face the hidden speaker. "Luc...." How long had he been  
there, she didn't know. Like all things that went on here, time was not often  
measured. He could have been standing there for hours or only a few minutes.  
  
The youth emerged at last from the shadows of the doorway, striding  
purposefully to her side. "Surely you are not so old as to have forgotten that  
you have retired from the position of Seer." Like usual, his voice was heavy  
with sarcasm.  
  
It was his way of keeping the outside world at arm's length.   
  
Luc appeared as he had always - a young boy somewhere in his mid to late  
teens. But he was never a child... He was a child of the True Runes. He was a  
cursed child.  
  
"Luc." She paused for breath, thinking carefully how to phrase her next words.  
The more things seemed to change, the more they remained the same. Holding a  
conversation with Luc was, as always, difficult.  
  
"....?" He seemed to note the lecturing tone she'd placed on his name.  
Standing slightly more attentively, head cocked slightly as if prepared to  
receive orders. In a way, he was about to.  
  
"Luc... has anything felt different of late?" Once again, she took the  
roundabout approach. It was often easier to ease into the topic and lead him  
to an answer than to try to extract a straight answer from him.  
  
Perhaps recognising the question for what it was worth, Luc held up his right  
hand. On the back of his hand, was a rune, the outlines of the wind rune  
glowing faintly in the darkness. It wasn't simply any wind rune, but rather,  
it was one of the sacred 27 True Runes. "Do you perhaps refer to this, Lady  
Leknaat?" he inquired, his tone somewhat resigned.  
  
Leknaat nodded, her gaze straying to his hand. "Do you feel your rune  
reacting?"  
  
He nodded, casting an accusing glance in the direction of Gregminster,  
somewhere to the south of where they now resided. "So what war may we expect  
this time? Is Toran to revert to a new Empire?" His tone was contemptuous.  
"The stars are fickle, aren't they?"  
  
Leknaat was very aware of Luc's ambivilance towards war... or for that matter,  
his general apathy towards all things. He did not feel compassion for  
others... he did not empathize with them.  
  
"Luc, listen to me."  
  
Luc quieted, his inner hostility still palpable to her other senses.  
  
"The balance will be destroyed once more... the lands to the north will know  
war."  
  
Luc visibly stiffened, his left hand balling into a fist.  
  
Leknaat continued, now that she had his undivided attention. Perhaps he  
thought that she was referring to Harmonia. "The city-states of Jowston and  
Highland will see a great war... Greater than any they have seen thus far....  
The land will be awash in blood and grief."  
  
"Can I not avoid this?" His voice was accusing. "Have I not already fufilled  
the role of the Tenkan Star?"  
  
Leknaat, took Luc's hand, holding it between hers. She shook her head. "No  
Luc. You must never seek to avoid your destiny.... you were born under the  
Tenkan Star.... you are the bearer of the True Wind Rune.... you know you  
cannot escape your destiny."  
  
Luc's gaze turned from Leknaat towards the forest that obscured the City-  
States. If looks could kill, Leknaat was certain the forest would have burned  
to ash by now from the intensity of Luc's glare.  
  
"There is that word again. Destiny." His words were angry... contemptuous. "So  
what am I to do? Waltz into Muse or L'Renouille with a message that says, 'A  
war shall break out. I, Master Luc, am now in your service'?"  
  
Just like three years ago, Leknaat smiled and replied: "No, Luc. That will not  
be necessary.... Come. Let us return inside... and we shall speak of what must  
be done."  
  
----,---'--{@ * @}--,---'----  
  
Luc stood on the ledge, sheltered from the winds yet afforded a view of the  
proceedings below. The fires were forming tiny little blooms in the clearing  
on the other side. The camp of the Unicorn Brigade was in flames, the cries of  
the dying could be heard as faint echoing cries.  
  
Highland soldiers were commiting the massacre of their own Unicorn brigade,  
systematically wiping out every last survivor. Then again... the soldiers  
involved were Luca Blight's White Wolf Army, if he was not mistaken. The  
infamous Mad Prince of Highland....  
  
So what if the prince of Highland massacred his own people? Luc could have  
cared less.  
  
He had studied something of the Highland history. They had been in conflict  
with the Jowston City-States for decades. Luca Blight. Son of Agares Blight.  
The mad prince of Highland. His sanity had supposedly snapped when he and his  
mother had been captured... Leknaat had not divulged much of Luca's plan  
beyond calling it revenge and that he would destroy both Jowston and Highland.  
The Beast Rune would be part of his plan.  
  
Another of the 27 True Runes. Another page in the greater conflict of Order  
and Chaos. One thousand years of relentless conflict between the gods. His  
True Wind Rune tingled insistently for his attention as activity picked up on  
the other side. He stilled his thoughts, briefly touching the counsciousness  
that was his rune. "I see... so that's it...." He returned his attention to  
see two figures racing northwards... "Ah..."  
  
His attention strayed back towards the cliff-face where the two boys stood. In  
some obscure ritual of promise they each slashed the face of a boulder with  
their weapons, making an X, then they walked towards the cliff's edge.  
Highland solders would be there soon.  
  
Luc had no intention of revealing his presence, or even rendering assistance  
if at all possible. He had no desire to help those two... They were just two  
boys that the stars had chosen.... pawns of fate. If they stayed to fight,  
they would die... if they leapt, they would die. It didn't matter.  
  
"Ideally", Luc reasoned, "it would be much simpler if they died here. Two  
ordinary boys, without even a true rune to their name." It would spare them  
the pain that Leknaat had chosen them to bear. It would be a mercy to allow  
them to die.  
  
The two appeared to be arguing for a moment, facing the gorge. Then, to his  
disbelief, they leapt. The fools were going to get themselves killed.  
Orders...were orders...  
  
Reflexively, he raised his hands to the heavens. In the space between his  
hands, blue-violet energies swirled in a mad dervish. Luc cast the orb of  
energy downwards, watching it reach the two just barely before they hit the  
waters below.  
  
His work here was done. The fates had been set into motion.   
  
Luc stepped back from the edge of the cliff, lazy swirls of pale blue light  
rose around him, guided by some intangiable breeze. He hesitated, casting one  
final glance at the figure of Luca Blight backlit by the flickering flames.  
Luca's head was thrown back, laughing at the heavens. The prince's peals of  
laughter echoing faintly across the canyon. Luc was struck by the image of the  
prince laughing... as if mocking the gods and fate itself. With that final   
image fixed in his mind, he faded with the wind.  
  
----,---'--{@ * * @}--,---'----  
  
Leknaat was seated in a chair by the window. Her head was bowed and hands in  
her lap. Luc poured the tea, setting it before her, with a mumur of 'tea is  
served'. At his words, she looked up. "Thank you Luc." she replied absently.  
She had summoned him to have tea with her upon his return from Tenzan Pass.  
  
She could sense that he was glancing at her and shrugged ever so slightly. He  
settled into the chair opposite her.   
  
He spoke. "So those boys..."  
  
Leknaat smiled slightly, warming her hands around the cup. "You sensed it as  
well?" He had learned from the Gate Rune Wars, it seemed. "Yes, they are...  
The stars may seem cruel to force upon such young boys such a harsh reality."  
  
"Young? Have you taken to mockery, Lady Leknaat? They have had FAR more time  
than I was ever given." Luc's voice was full of bitterness and anger, all  
directed at her.  
  
It was true. The fates had not been kind to Luc... She who was supposed to be  
tearless... emotionless... she had been moved to action to rescue Luc from his  
plight... to bring him here where she could educate him.... She had tried to  
give his life meaning... but to no avail it seemed. She had no response for  
him.  
  
He spoke again, calmer. "How is it that the stars of destiny are chosen? Is it  
simply destiny? Circumstances? Can more than one person fufill the destiny of  
a particular star?"  
  
Now and again, Luc's questions managed to catch her off guard. "Well..." She  
drew out the word in a thoughtful manner. "I believe it has more to do with  
the ability to be at the right place at the right time.... I cannot say for  
certain, Luc... the stars work in mysterious ways."  
  
Luc asked one last question, "If I found a way to destroy this rune... what  
would happen?"  
  
Leknaat set down her cup, focusing her attention on him. It was the question  
that sent a cold trickle like ice down her spine. "Luc, we cannot change the  
past... we could go on and on forever about the what if's and never divine an  
answer."  
  
Luc looked down, finding the murky liquid of the tea suddenly fascinating.  
"Yes, Lady..." he replied noncomittally.  
  
Leknaat sighed softly, "Look at me Luc," she commanded gently. "What's wrong?"  
  
He shook his head, standing, "You would not understand. If you should require  
my services later, please call... I am weary and wish some time for myself."  
  
Leknaat nodded, slowly, "Yes, of course Luc."   
  
The young wind mage excused himself, his footsteps marking his steady  
departure from the room. He had only been in this world for seventeen years...  
and already... he was longing for death...  
  
His path....  
  
She sighed softly, feeling the cold of unease within her stomach that no  
amount of warm tea could dissipate. "May the stars guide you down the proper  
path, my child...."  
  
----,---'--{@ * * @}--,---'----  
  
Leknaat's summons had come sooner than he had anticipated. He saw, behind her  
great slabs of grey stone. There were words carved into the surface. Names  
filled some of the blanks underneath the titles. His gaze flickered to the  
first tablet, second row, second column... It was there. His name was  
inscribed into the stone.   
  
It was time.  
  
To see his name on the tablet... He clenched his fist so tightly that he  
didn't realize he'd drawn his own blood. To know his destiny was being charted  
out for him again... he cursed the heavens... the very gods... the 27 True  
Runes...  
  
"Come Luc," Leknaat said, beckoning with a hand for him to take his place by  
her side.  
  
For a moment, he thought to refuse her. To say that he would not.... He had  
intended to.... until his rune roused....  
  
The consciousness of the True Wind Rune seized his consciousness and thrust  
him, an unwilling viewer into its memories... There... The banner of the White  
Wolf Army. Admidst the Highland pennants, there was a Harmonian banner... not  
one of their third class forces... not one of their mercenary regional  
forces... but from the main body of the Harmonian Army.  
  
Of course... Highland had once been a part of Harmonia, but more  
importantly... his rune had a direct interest in the force that had come from  
Harmonia.  
  
Promise. The rune seemed to say. Promise to fight that unit...   
  
Luc had no desire to fight.... no desire to confront Harmonia. The cursed land  
of his birth... the source of his pain...  
  
He answered his rune with a defiant No.  
  
The True Rune exerted pressure again.   
  
I will not.  
  
Luc was then beset with his very own memories. The ones that made him curse  
his very existance and the fates themselves... Truths about himself that he  
longed to deny, longed to forget.  
  
They were the memories that lurked about in the darkest resses of his mind  
like rotten unclean abominations. Even in his nightmares they were nothing  
more than half-glimpsed horrors, but in the perfect memory of the True Rune  
there was nowhere to hide.... no awakening to end the torment.  
  
Promise. The True Rune bore down on him with successive images battering at  
his resolve until he could, at last, do nothing but promise.  
  
When he'd finally shaken off the visions, he found himself appearing before an  
assemblage of people. He was a pawn of destiny just like those two boys he had  
saved at the pass. A prisoner to the whims of the gods.  
  
----,---'--{@ * * @}--,---'---- 


End file.
